Deception Point Page 63

Obviously, this is devastating for the senator, the analyst was saying. The chairwoman and NASA extradite claimed an incalculable triumph with this disc all overy. News like this would revitalize the chairwomans fight back regardless of sacristans position on NASA, further with Sextons admission today that he would go so far as to abolish NASA funding right away if need be well, this presidential announcement is a one-two punch from which the senator impart not recover.I was tricked, Sexton said. The snow-clad House fucking facility me up.The analyst was smiling now. all(a) of the credibility NASA has lost with Americans recently has moreover been restored in spades. t thwarthers a real feeling of matter pride show up on that point on the streets right now.As there should be. They love Zach Herney, and they were losing faith. Youve got to admit, the President was lying down and to a faultk some pretty big hits recently, but hes bring out of it smelling like a rose.Sexto n thought of the CNN controversy that afternoon and hung his head, thinking he might be sick to his stomach. in all of the NASA inertia he had so carefully built up over the last months had not only come to a screeching halt, but it had become an anchor around his neck. He looked like a fool. Hed been brazenly played by the whiten House. He was already dreading all the cartoons in tomorrows paper. His name would be the punch line to every joke in the country. Obviously, there would be no more quiet SFF campaign funding. Everything had changed. All of the men who had been in his flat had just seen their dreams go down the toilet. The privatization of pose had just struck a brick wall.Taking another hit of cognac, the senator stood up and walked unevenly to his desk. He gazed down at the unhooked phone receiver. Knowing it was an bend of masochistic self-flagellation, he slowly replaced the phone receiver in its place of birth and began counting the seconds.One two The phone ran g. He let the mold pick up.Senator Sexton, Judy Oliver from CNN. Id like to give you an opportunity to react to the NASA discovery this evening. transport call me. She hung up.Sexton started counting again. One The phone started ringing. He treat it, letting the machine get it. Another reporter.Holding his bottle of Courvoisier, Sexton wandered toward the sliding door of his balcony. He pulled it aside and stepped out into the cool air. angle of dip against the railing, he gazed out across town to the illuminated facade of the White House in the distance. The lights seemed to twinkle gleefully in the wind.Bastards, he thought. For centuries weve been smell for proof of life in the heavens. Now we find it in the alike fucking year as my election? This wasnt propitious, this was goddamned clairvoyant. Every apartment window for as far as Sexton could see had a television on. Sexton wondered where Gabrielle Ashe was to darkness. This was all her fault. Shed fed him NASA failure a fter NASA failure.He raised the bottle to take another swig.Goddamned Gabrielle shes the fountain Im in this so deep.Across town, standing amid the chaos of the ABC production room, Gabrielle Ashe tangle numb. The Presidents announcement had come out of left field, leaving her suspended in a semicatatonic haze. She stood, lock-kneed in the center of the production room floor, staring up at one of the television monitors while pandemonium raged around her.The initial seconds of the announcement had brought dead silence to the newsroom floor. It had lasted only moments before the place erupted into a deafening carnival of scrambling reporters. These people were professionals. They had no time for personal reflection. There would be time for that after the work was through with(p). At the moment, the world precious to know more, and ABC had to provide it. This story had everything-science, history, political drama-an emotional suffer lode. Nobody in the media was sleeping tonight.G abs? Yolandas voice was sympathetic. Lets get you back into my obligation before someone realizes who you are and starts grilling you on what this means for Sextons campaign.Gabrielle entangle herself guided through a haze into Yolandas glass-walled office. Yolanda sat her down and give her a glass of water. She tried to force a smile. Look on the bright side, Gabs. Your candidates campaign is fucked, but at least youre not.Thanks. Terrific.Yolandas tone off serious. Gabrielle, I know you feel like shit. Your candidate just got hit by a Mack truck, and if you ask me, hes not getting up. At least not in time to turn this thing around. just at least nobodys splashing your picture all over the television. Seriously. This is practised news. Herney wont need a sex scandal now. Hes looking far too presidential right now to talk sex.It seemed a small comforter to Gabrielle.As for tenchs allegations of Sextons illegal campaign finance Yolanda shook her head. I find my doubts. Grante d, Herney is serious about no negative campaigning. And granted, a bribery investigating would be bad for the country. But is Herney really so patriotic that he would forgo a chance to crush his opposition, simply to protect national morale? My guess is Tench stretched the truth about Sextons finances in an effort to scare. She gambled, hoping youd jump ship and give the President a go off sex scandal. And youve got to admit, Gabs, tonight would have been a hell of a night for Sextons morals to come into questionGabrielle nodded vaguely. A sex scandal would have been a one-two punch from which Sextons career never would have recovered ever.You outlasted her, Gabs. Marjorie Tench went fishing, but you didnt bite. Youre home free. Therell be other elections.Gabrielle nodded vaguely, un authoritative what to believe anymore.Youve got to admit, Yolanda said, the White House played Sexton brilliantly-luring him down the NASA path, getting him to commit, coaxing him to vagabond all his eggs in the NASA basket.Totally my fault, Gabrielle thought.And this announcement we just watched, my God, it was reputation The importance of the discovery entirely aside, the production values were brilliant. Live feeds from the frozen? A Michael Tolland documentary? Good God, how can you compete? Zach Herney nailed it tonight. Theres a reason the guy is President.And will be for another four yearsIve got to get back to work, Gabs, Yolanda said. You sit right there as long as you want. Get your feet downstairs you. Yolanda headed out the door. Hon, Ill check back in a few minutes.Alone now, Gabrielle sipped her water, but it tasted foul. Everything did. Its all my fault, she thought, trying to ease her scruples by reminding herself of all the glum NASA press conferences of the past year-the space identify go underbacks, the postponement of the X-33, all the failed Mars probes, continuous budget bailouts. Gabrielle wondered what she could have done differently.Nothing, she t old herself. You did everything right.It had simply backfired.74The thundering navy SeaHawk cleaver had been scrambled under a covert operation status out of Thule convey Force Base in northern Greenland. It stayed low, out of radar range, as it shot through the gale winds across seventy miles of open sea. Then, executing the gonzo orders they had been given, the pilots fought the wind and brought the craft to a hover above a pre-ordained set of coordinates on the empty ocean.Wheres the rendezvous? the copilot yelled, confused. They had been told to bring a chopper with a rescue winch, so he anticipated a search-and-retrieve operation. You sure these are the right coordinates? He scanned the choppy seas with a searchlight, but there was nothing below them except-